The Birth of Peace: A Ballet

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Ballet Danced in Stockholm's Royal Palace on Her Majesty's Birthday December 19, 1649

Words sung before the ballet

Let us stand here in silenceAnd revere the presenceOf the Goddess who rules in these lands:She wants to draw us away from the hazards of war,And, unlike some other Gods,Wants peace to return upon earth.Let us hail that peaceAs the greatest of her bounties.

Thanks to her prudenceAnd the secret influenceOf the generous commands that she has given us,We have fought to such advantage

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That large stunned nations have come under our ruleAnd to us now pay homage.But the birth of peaceIs the greatest of her bounties.

So let us celebrate that birthAnd declare in this dance,Where war and peace each display their strength,That Pallas is right in thinkingThat war, even the best one can have,Strips away much beauty from the earth;And so, bringing us peaceIs the greatest of her bounties.

Verses of the ballet

First dancing entry: MARS

I want to make every corner of the earth tremble,And show mortals that no other GodHas ever in this world had as much power as I have,Not even he who discharges thunder.His flashes of lightning, his fires, cause only minor fearWhereas my cannons and other machines,My mortars, my pistols, fires and mines,Bring everywhere death along with terror.I crush rocks, flatten mountains,Fill moats, destroy castles,Bloody the seas, burn vesselsAnd litter with corpses the fairest of lands.

Second dancing entry: FOUR LARGE MEN,

two from cavalry, two from infantry,Representing an army corps led by Pallas.

Mars must not credit himselfWith the top honors of war.

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The sky, the sea, the air and the earth,It is Jupiter's DaughterWho alone deserves those honors.

It is Pallas, whose prudenceIs so tied to valorThat excess assuranceNever gives her excess ardor.She is wise, vigilant,Courageous, and constant.

So she is in our bodyThe head without which it cannot live;And we make every effortFor the honor of escorting her.Without her, that severed bodyDespised by all would be.

When it pleases her to lead us,All lands to us are open,Nothing can harm us,We can vanquish the universe,And often have the gloryOf here bringing victory.

Third dancing entry: PANIC

It is wrongly that Pallas and MarsBoast that in hazardous straitsTheir power has no match:Mine is much more fearsome.

They need hard labor,Grand decorum:Gunpowder, horses, and arms,And men who rush to alarmsTo fight just one battleWhich, even though they look goodAnd their breed is godly,They lose often enough.

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But I, who make much less noiseI, who am a daughter of the night,Who am cold, pale, and trembling,When I want to bestow terrorUpon one million fighting menAnd trample on their laurels,All I need is a fantasy,A dream, a light shadowThat I send into their brain.They then tremble like calves,They turn ashen, they fleeAnd often throw themselvesInto evils more to be dreadedThan the ones they think they have avoided.

Fourth dancing entry: Some RUNAWAY SOLDIERS whom panic has led to defect from the army before the battle.

To Ladies:

We have defended ourselves well;But we were sold:Our leaders did nothing of any worth.All fields are littered with corpses,On our side everyone is dead.We have lost the battle.

The enemies are close.We have come running,For the express purpose to defend you.If they come we shall show them

That we have the puissanceTo punish their impudence.

Dear beauties, fear notThat our hearts be missing,Even though you keep them captive.We shall be lionhearted enough,And also most joyfulIf your own hearts you deign to give us.

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Fifth dancing...